Power problem may kill fairgrounds events through May

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2008 at 6:43 PM

The Boat Show is canceled, the Spring Lawn and Garden Sale is trying to relocate, and dozens of other events at the Illinois State Fairgrounds — including the Memorial Day motorcycle races — are in limbo.

Doug Finke

The Boat Show is canceled, the Spring Lawn and Garden Sale is trying to relocate, and dozens of other events at the Illinois State Fairgrounds — including the Memorial Day motorcycle races — are in limbo.

State fair officials said Tuesday they are notifying anyone with an event scheduled at the fairgrounds through the end of May that its electrical problems probably won’t be fixed until then and to make alternate arrangements.

The economic hit to the city and its businesses, estimated after the loss of the first couple of big events in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, will easily be in the millions.

“We’ve been told the work could take a couple of months,” said Department of Agriculture spokesman Jeff Squibb. “We’re told replacement of power lines will take a few months to complete. We’re calling people who have booked the grounds and telling them that there is no guarantee.”

Squibb said the timetable was forwarded to the department by the Capital Development Board, which is in charge of non-road state construction projects. CDB spokesman Dave Blanchette would not comment.

The fairgrounds have essentially been closed to the public since mid-February, when a second-round of electrical problems disrupted power. The problems first surfaced in late January. Fair officials said the grounds were closed as a matter of public safety.

Two major events already have been lost because of the electrical problems. The Illinois Horse Fair was canceled, while the Illinois Beef Expo is running a scaled-down event in Bloomington this weekend.

The latest casualty is the annual Boat Show scheduled for March 7-9.

“There’s nothing else available,” said show manager Steve Lengyel, who tried without success to relocate to the Prairie Capital Convention Center and Crowne Plaza.

He also tried the old Kmart building on MacArthur Boulevard, but overhead doors in the building aren’t big enough to accommodate boats. Lengyel said the eight boat dealers and related vendors wanted to stay in the Springfield area because most of the show’s market is within 30 miles of the capital city.

“We plan on coming back as long as we can get the dealers back,” Lengyel said.

Dennis Johnston, organizer of the Springfield RV and Camping Show scheduled for March 28-30, said he’s also having trouble finding another location.

“We’ve talked to all of our main dealers, and they really would like to do a show in Springfield,” he said. “We’re not wanting to cancel it, but we may not have a choice.”

Johnston checked Bloomington and Decatur, but found nothing suitable. Peoria is not an option because it already has a show organized by Johnston.

About 16 RV dealers participate in the Springfield event, which draws about 8,000 people, Johnston said. Typically, the show leads to $2.5 million in sales for the dealers, although many of those do not occur on the fairgrounds itself.

Memorial Day motorcycle races that draw an estimated 10,000 people to Springfield could be in jeopardy, as well. The Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association promotes three days of races, including the Springfield Mile. The association’s executive director, Tommra Luparell, said Tuesday she has not yet been notified by the fair and doesn’t know what will happen if that notice comes.

“I really don’t know what other options we have,” she said. “Where else are you going to find a mile track, especially the best mile track in the country.

“I would think they would use every effort they could to resolve this before then. It’s such a huge event.”

The Spring Lawn and Garden Sale scheduled April 5-6 is trying to relocate to the former Kmart building, said Kevin O’Dea, general manager of Neuhoff Media Springfield, sponsor of the event. The sale draws an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people.

“We’re coming up to our 20th year. We’re trying to make this work,” O’Dea said.

In all, 71 events are scheduled at the fairgrounds in March, April and May. They range from events like the motorcycle races that draw thousands of people to wedding receptions that are not open to the public.

Heavy, high-voltage electrical lines were strewn around the southeast corner of the Illinois State Fairgrounds Tuesday, evidence of the ongoing efforts to pinpoint the source of electrical problems that are putting a big crimp in the city’s tourism industry.

The lines are literally pulled from underground conduit by workers at Springfield’s B&B Electric, working as a subcontractor to HDR, a national engineering firm hired to solve the problems that have led to power outages and a virtual shutdown of the fairgrounds.

There are five electrical circuits running through the fairgrounds, all of them in underground conduit. Each four-inch conduit contains three cables measuring one and one-quarter inch in diameter. A ground wire is also in each conduit. The cables can carry 12,500 volts.

There’s 120,000 feet of the high-voltage cable running through the fairgrounds. It was installed between 1979 and 1985.

Brinkman said that kind of cable has a natural lifespan, but he did not want to address the age of the fairgrounds’ cabling.

However, Jeff Squibb, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, said their technicians believe the cable has a 25-year life expectancy.

“It’s nearing the end of its useful life,” he said.

Not all 120,000 feet of cable is being pulled for inspection, but neither Brinkman nor state officials could provide an estimate of just how much is.

B&B has eight men working the job. The first task is to remove the cables themselves, a process that involves a truck with a winch.

“The cable is too heavy for them to pull out on their own,” Brinkman said.

Once the cables are out, B&B workers give them a once over for any obvious signs of damage. A more thorough examination is done by HDR engineers. The cable is placed in storage for future use.

Workers then send a cylindrical device through the conduit to clear it of any water or debris. After that, workers thread in a camera to check for damage to the pipe.

Although one worker described the conduit system as a “maze,” Brinkman said the company is using blueprints that help workers identify what parts belong to what circuit.

“Everything is pretty well marked out there,” he said.

Squibb said fair officials were told the repairs will involve replacing some power lines, and that it could take until the end of May to complete. Further comment, he said, has to come from the Capital Development Board, which is overseeing the project.

CDB spokesman Dave Blanchette would not comment. He also said CDB does not have an estimate of how much has been spent thus far on the repair effort.

Doug Finke can be reached at (217) 788-1527.

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